Embodiments of the invention relate to a wiper system for motor vehicle windows, more particularly motor vehicle windscreens, and a method for operating a wiper system for motor vehicle windows. In particular, the invention in this case refers to a control of the wiper drive and/or the wiper system.
The windscreen of a motor vehicle is generally cleaned by the use of a wiper system. A wiper system comprises in this case at least one window wiper which has a wiper arm, a wiper motor, a wiper linkage and optionally a wiper gear mechanism, and a switching device, for example in the form of a steering column arm. By means of the steering column arm the driver of the motor vehicle is able to select different operating modes of the window wiper. In particular, continuous operation at fixed wiping frequencies, single wiping mode which performs a single wiping operation when the steering column arm is actuated once, and an intermittent function which performs a wiping cycle with a specific wiping cycle duration and with specific pause times between two wiping cycles, may be selected.
Generally, two different methods are used for controlling a window wiper. The first method uses a steering column arm with a push-button function. In this case, control signals for the window wiper are produced via a central control unit according to the pulse emitted by the push-button and transmitted to the wiper motor with integrated electronics.
The second method uses a steering column arm with a complex switching function. In this case, the steering column arm comprises a plurality of mechanical switches, wherein the different operating modes such as continuous operation, intermittent operation and operation of a rear window wiper may be selected by the positions and/or switching states of the mechanical switches. The individual positions and/or switching states are in this case detected, for example, by a central control unit and transmitted to the wiper motor with integrated electronics.
The aforementioned control methods for a window wiper require a complex steering column mechanism and/or the use of a central control unit which, in particular, requires a complex on-board network architecture.
It is desirable, therefore, to eliminate a complex steering column mechanism and to simplify an on-board network architecture.